


Mood Ring2

by 852_Prospect_Archivist



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: M/M, Series: Mood Ring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-11 03:43:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/793618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/852_Prospect_Archivist/pseuds/852_Prospect_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blair gets an admirer, and Jim doesn't like it. Angst.<br/>This story is a sequel to Mood Ring 1.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mood Ring2

## Mood Ring 2

By Fire Frog

Author's homepage: <http://www.wn.com.au/firefrog/>

The Sentinel is the property of Pet Fly and UPN. All rights reserved. No infringement of copyright intended. No money changed hands. 

* * *

Jim Ellison jerked open the door to the loft and glared at the man standing there. 

"He doesn't want to see you." 

"That's OK." Came the happy reply as a parcel wrapped in bright paper and ribbons was held out. "I don't need to see him. I saw this jacket, and you know how he feels the cold. Tell him I called." 

"Yeah." Jim grunted, grabbing the parcel and slamming the door in the man's face. Treating the thing as if it were radioactive, he dropped it on the table, next to the warm mittens their erstwhile Donut man had brought earlier. 

They'd made one little mistake. Sending Blair out for the bullpens daily sugar fix, which had resulted in Jim Northam - Donut man, friendly neighborhood gay activist and rare 'susceptible to magic throwback', entering their lives. Not that Sandburg was responding to the mountain of crazy, romantic things this other Jim was doing for him. No, Blair wasn't dating at all. Ethically he felt bound not to, in case he took advantage of an unsuspecting date with the love charm. But the donut guy was driving his protective partner up the wall. 

Northam was spending vast amounts of time, energy and money on romancing the young anthropologist (luckily he looked fairly non-descript, a fact Jim took great pleasure in pointing out to his friend.). Most worrying to the big cop was that Blair seemed to be getting friendly with his admirer. What would happen after the spell was broken and Blair was free to date again? Was Blair beginning to fall for the persuasive man's line? 

The pink pig plush toy Northam had sent him had had him giggling hysterically (Sandburg had refused to let anyone in the bullpen read the attached note either, damn him) and the tickets to his current favorite band had worked their charm. Worse yet, the cunning bastard was taking his time, making no sudden moves, no overt hand holding or licentious groping. Nothing to warn his innocent partner of his 'real' intentions. 

Jim's vision was beginning to cloud over with red when Blair himself walked out from his bedroom. 

"Uh, Jim - you're gonna bust that....oops." 

Jim stared in confusion at the broken back of the chair in his hands. 

"Geeze, man you've gotta learn to channel that aggression there." Mood ring glowing softly orange Blair slapped his embarrassed friend's shoulder cheerfully. Internally he was far from happy at his partners loss of control. 

The parcel on the table said his Donut man had been to call and the aggression Jim felt around Northam was no secret. He again thanked his lucky stars that he hadn't blurted out the whole truth about the concert. God knows how Jim would have taken the whole 'kissing in the mini van on the way home' thing. His guess was, not well. Hell, _he_ was still processing that one. He really didn't want to date anyone while wearing the mood ring, but the guy was so persistent. And he could be funny; Blair needed fun sometimes too. Oh, hell. He'd deal with this later. 

"Say, is this for me?" Grabbing up the parcel /Gotta talk about sending my visitors away without telling me they're here some time. / and the mittens /damn, didn't mean to leave them lying about./ Blair rushed to hide the offending items in his room, oblivious to the little kid with goodies image he presented. 

Jim felt another stab at his heart. Blair liked getting the gifts so much - it hurt to think he'd never seen the need, the absolute hunger, to have his help appreciated in tangible ways. Ellison had always assumed Blair knew how much he was appreciated. Now he wasn't so sure. 'A thank you would be nice, Jim.' Damn. 

* * *

Safe in his room Blair dumped the stuff in a chair and collapsed onto his bed. OK - what were the facts? One - Jim was acting way aggressive towards Northam. Two - Northam was taking it with a grain of salt, the man was unflappable. Three - Jim had never acted this way with any of his other dates. Four, but Northam was a guy. (Oh yeah, remember that conversation. "But I thought you were strait Chief." "Well, technically, yeah. But hypothetically, well, no ones ever pursued it this far before. I've had offers, but...and everyone is bi-sexual at some level Jim." "Men aren't the same as women, Blair. Watch yourself." "How would you know?" <getting testy> "I worked in vice. I _know_ Blair.") Five - was it five? Perhaps he should write this down. Several minutes of scribbling latter Blair had finished his list, adding half a dozen more points to it as he went. Frowning he scanned the page, trying to see why Jim was having such trouble coping with the situation. 

Then it came - the obvious answer. If Blair settled down with a woman Jim would still be accepted, they could still hang out, do stuff together, work on Jim's senses. But if Blair ever settled down with another man...the reverse could be true. To Ellison's way of thinking, if Blair was _his_ boyfriend then other men would be a threat, to be kept away at all costs. He was afraid of losing his guide. 

Blair could have told him not to worry, nothing would ever come between his commitment to the big guy. Besides, Northam was not the possessive type. In fact Blair got the distinct impression that monogamous love was not his thing. (look who's talking, Sandburg!) Jim Northam got off on the pursuit, was exceptionally fond of the capture, but not all that keen on the keeping of his conquests. 

A plan was forming, so scribbling down a message under the other points and his conclusions he waited until Jim left the loft for his work out at the gym. Leaving the note propped up on the table Blair left to carry out his plan. 

* * *

An hour after Jim's return to the loft Blair came in, mood ring gone a dull dead black, to be greeted by an impassive, letter holding Jim. 

"What did you do Chief." His partner's voice was flat, emotionless. 

"Got Northam off our backs, once and for all." Sandburg was trying to force a bit of cheerfulness into his voice, but he was tired and depressed and it came through. 

"What did he do." Still no emotion in that voice, but the determined look in his eyes increased and Blair shrugged his mental shoulders and decided to just tell him the truth. The decision was made easier by the half a bottle of Champagne Northam had persuaded him to pour down his throat earlier. 

"He went down on me. Did a great job too." Blair lent on the door, jacket in hand, head turned slightly away /What must Jim think of me?/ 

Ellison's protective drive dialed down to comfort mode in seconds. Seemingly without moving, he was at his guide's side, hands reaching up to rub reassuringly at those slumped shoulders. 

"Aw, this sucks Jim. I mean - it's happened before, but never so...so damn blatantly. " The alcohol must be kicking in, Blair was feeling tearful "Two seconds after it was over I went from, 'My darling Blair, I love you man." to 'Get your feet off the couch, shouldn't you be going soon?'." Big pain-filled blue eyes looked up at him and Jim felt his heart contract, "Why don't they ever want to keep me, Jim? Once they try me, they never seem to want to..." the rest was lost in a choked sob. Jim's arms slid round into an upper body hug, drawing Blair in and resting his head onto his shoulder. 

/He did this for me./ Jim realised, / Risked rejection so that I wouldn't be burdened by my excessive aggression. Am I doing the right thing by not telling him that I love him? He feels so lonely, I want to fix that./ Carefully he smoothed Sandburg's hair, making soothing noises as he rocked him gently. /I guess I can fix that./ Eventually he felt the younger man stiffen and let him go. With resolve in his heart he watched as an embarrassed Sandburg scrubbed at his eyes and explained away his outburst as being to tired, to wired and two months of not getting any till tonight. Jim patted his friends arm and suggested he get some sleep. 

"You're not mad at me, are you?" Blair's eyes were round with worry. 

"No Chief, I'm not mad at you. Northam, I'd better not see while carrying a blunt object for awhile, but I know why you did it, Blair. I just wish you'd discussed things with me first. " 

"Aw man, you know how to make a guy feel immature." 

"That's because you act immature sometimes. Now go get some rest." Jim tapped him lovingly on the forehead and Blair went to comply. Watching him go with thoughtful eyes, Jim paused to consider his next move. How could Northam have rejected his beautiful Blair? Without doubt, his first step would be to see that Jim Northam couldn't hurt his friend again. Oh, yes. 

End Part Two     


End file.
